Westfield police fatally shoot man who stabbed officer, police say

Law enforcement officials said Westfield police shot a man at 128 Elm st. Saturday morning after he stabbed an officer as police responded to a call that he was trying to break into the apartment of his ex-wife.

WESTFIELD — A police officer fatally shot an out-of-control man who stabbed another patrolman even after the man had been struck by a stun gun, according to Police Capt. Michael A. McCabe.

Douglas Musto, 28, hometown unknown, was shot in the hallway of an apartment building at 128 Elm St. early Saturday morning after Musto's ex-wife called police for help because Musto was attempting to break her door down at about 2 a.m., according to a 911 call from a woman who lived in Apt. 11.

One officer responded initially and tried to place Musto in handcuffs, although the man was not being placed under arrest, McCabe said.

"He told the officer he wasn't going to be arrested, and the officer told him he wasn't under arrest. He wasn't responding to the officer's commands. He pulled out a knife. He was Tasered, then lunged at the officer. There was some grappling, and somewhere in there the officer was stabbed," McCabe said.

A second officer came up the stairwell and fired several shots at Musto, according to Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni, who said the knife Musto was wielding was a large, retractable model.

Musto died of his injuries, according to McCabe.

The shooting is being investigated by the district attorney's office.

Little is known about the couple's history; McCabe said the woman lived there alone and he believed Musto lived in another community. No children were at the apartment, officials said.

No one answered the door at the woman's apartment on Saturday evening. Long, vertical cracks in the wooden door were visible where Musto apparently tried to force his way in.

While crime scene tape was long gone on the second floor of the two-story apartment building perched atop downtown retail stores, the sterile smell of bleach permeated the hallways.

"They were just finishing mopping up when I got home around noon. I wasn't home last night, thankfully. My bedroom is right there," next-door neighbor Joshua Miranda said, gesturing to a corner of the hallway outside his unit where Musto was shot.

A still-damp mop was propped nearby. Miranda said the building is typically peaceful and well-kept, filled mostly with college students. He said most residents keep to themselves and he did not know the woman in Apt. 11. She is believed to be in her early 20s.

Neither the officer who was wounded or the officer who shot Musto has been identified. The wounded officer was stabbed in the leg, and was treated and released at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Mastroianni said he believed the officer suffered a fairly serious slash wound.

The officer who shot Musto was not placed on administrative leave.

"It seems to be pretty straight-forward," said McCabe. "There's not a whole lot you can do in that situation, with an armed suspect who is not responding to commands and who has already injured a police officer,"

Both officers have been offered counseling, McCabe said. They were both seasoned members of the police force, he added.

"Domestic violence calls are among the scariest calls we go out on," McCabe said. "The situation may seem to have an underlying calm and then quickly become explosive."

Mastroianni said there are extensive ballistics and forensics tests ahead in the case, as well as awaiting the results of Musto's autopsy from a Boston medical examiner, which could take months.

He said while the district attorney's office must go through those exercises before coming to a conclusion, his initial impression is that Westfield police handled the situation properly.

"How much more can you ask of a cop, except to gradually step up the use of force. They only escalated when it was required. It seems to be to be a textbook handling of a situation like that," Mastroianni said.

SCENE OF THE SHOOTING
The map below shows the location police responded to early Saturday.